The state Department of Natural Resources is expected to ask a federal agency for a special permit to kill gray wolves that prey on livestock, in response to a U.S. court's decision reinstating wolf protections, according to a federal and state official. Whether the state receives permission depends on the interpretation of the court's ruling, said Ronald Refsnider, of the Division of Endangered Species at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "It's a big 'if.' We don't know at this point if we can. The judge's order doesn't specifically address these sorts of permits," he said. "We're still awaiting advice from our attorneys on a lot of different aspects of this." He said he's expecting to receive letters from Wisconsin and Michigan officials within the next couple of weeks asking for the permit. The court's decision reversed a Fish and Wildlife Service rule change reducing wolves' status to threatened, instead of endangered. The threatened status allowed government agents to kill wolves, which killed livestock, while setting the stage for delisting, entirely removing federal oversight of the wolf population.

In anticipation of this delisting, the state DNR held public hearings and had been preparing to consider new lethal controls, ranging from a hunting season to allowing farmers themselves to kill wolves, which attack their livestock. But, the recent court ruling sets back those plans so that now even the DNR cannot kill wolves causing problems for farmers but must trap and relocate them. In the recent court case, conservationists argued the Fish and Wildlife Service classified some wolves as threatened when they should have remained endangered. The judge's ruling forced the wolves' status in many parts of the country, including Wisconsin, to revert to endangered. "Eliminating some of the lethal controls that government trappers were doing might seem like a good thing to those people who want a lot more wolves," said Adrian Wydeven, a mammalian ecologist for the DNR. "But, from our standpoint, having to deal with management problems and removing problem wolves from the landscape and public acceptance of wolves, I think it just makes things more difficult for us." Wydeven said the DNR would likely ask the Fish and Wildlife Service for a permit allowing the DNR to return to its current policy of using government agents to kill wolves, which kill livestock. Trapping and relocating is tricky, he said, because some counties have adopted resolutions prohibiting the DNR from bringing trapped wolves into them. Such resolutions are not legally enforceable but create political problems, he said.

The court ruling is also turning into a political issue for farmers, who are opposing the DNR's proposal to cap compensation for livestock depredations at $15,000 per claimant. The DNR is also proposing that farmers pay a $250 deductible for each depredation. The restrictions are unfair given that the state no longer has a means for controlling the wolf population, according to Paul Zimmerman, executive direct of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. "The federal court ruling is a major setback for the livestock producers in Northern Wisconsin because the only tool they have available now is trap and relocation, which is just a Band-Aid that spreads the problem elsewhere," Zimmerman said. Wydeven said he's concerned farmers might think the DNR can no longer help them. "We want to make sure people know there's still help available, and we will make every effort to remove any problem wolves from places where they're causing problems," he said.

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